


Cafes and Customers

by ChetRoi



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Mankai, Before Itaru works as an office man, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25279240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChetRoi/pseuds/ChetRoi
Summary: Itaru was a worker at cafe, Chikage was a customer at said cafe. Could it be any more obvious?
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Utsuki Chikage
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	Cafes and Customers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sebun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sebun/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEBUN... TY FOR FEEDING EVERYONE WITH CHIKAITA SO I AM GONNA FEED YOU IT NOW...

“Alright, have a nice day! Hope you come back soon!” Itaru handed the woman her coffee with a warm smile as she giggled shyly. She took the coffee, sending him a flirtatious smile back. 

“I definitely will.” The woman turned to leave, but not before waving goodbye at Itaru. Itaru waved goodbye back with the same warm smile. However, when the woman finally left the shop, Itaru’s smile immediately dropped, being replaced with an annoyed grimace. 

Itaru hated working here. 

With its minimalistic plant-themed decor, its abundance of wooden furniture, and its jazz music that came from a random compilation on YouTube, Mankai Cafe was the spitting image of what people thought of when they heard the word Cafe. The bright sunlight that filtered in through the glass front of the cafe that day definitely enhanced that stereotypical Cafe vibe Mankai had. 

It was a nice enough place to work, Itaru supposed. It paid decently enough and it had good benefits, large discounts for the employees, nice coworkers, understanding bosses, and a peaceful place to work. However, Itaru just didn’t like the job. He knew that he should’ve considered himself lucky to even land a job as good as this, but he really didn’t want to stay here forever. 

Well, whatever. Itaru placed his face in his hands. He’s just going to work here until he manages to find another job better than this. Plus, it gave him his gacha funds, so not everything was bad. Itaru got his face out of his hands to glance at the clock. Okay, an hour before break. He can do this. 

The bell in front of the store rang, which was followed by the sounds of the door gently opening and closing. Itaru sighed. Can he really do this? 

Itaru conjured up his usual princely smile. It was boss rush time. Final stretch until there was finally a break area, he can do this. However, his smile almost wavered when he saw the guy in front of him. Holy fuck.

The guy was tall, even taller than Itaru, with sky blue eyes and green hair that somehow suited him (seriously, how was that possible? Was he some kind of cheat anime character?). He had on a nice suit and what seemed to be expensive shoes. Itaru assumes from his time working and observing at the cafe that the guy is a businessman, a pretty high up one. Itaru internally shook his head. Whatever, Itaru had encountered plenty of hot people while working here, this guy shouldn’t be any different. Itaru ignored the part of his head that whispered  _ “He’s the hottest guy yet though” _ .

“Welcome! What can I get you?” Itaru saw the man push up his glasses. 

“Well, what do you recommend? I have to admit that I don’t frequent places like this often.” 

Itaru studied the guy closer. He probably had really high tastes, so the usual cappuccinos or lattes weren’t going to impress. Maybe, some kind of artisan coffee? Wait. Maybe, he preferred tea. When in doubt, ask because the customer is always right. 

“Well, it depends. Are you more of a coffee or tea guy? If you’re neither, we also have smoothies and juices here.” Itaru gestured toward the big menu hanging behind him before reaching down to grab a small menu and handing it to the man. 

The man took it and Itaru noticed a ring on his finger. Itaru couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment. Of course a man as hot as that was married. However, Itaru notes that the ring wasn’t on the ring finger, so maybe it’s just questionable jewelry taste. Itaru couldn’t help but internally cringe. Why did Itaru care so much about this guy’s relationship status? He was just another customer. 

The guy looked back up, handing Itaru back the menu. “Well, I prefer tea over coffee.” 

“What kind of tea? Plain tea? Fruit tea? Milk tea?” 

“Plain tea.” 

“Well, all of our teas are freshly brewed and artisan, so you can pick from any of them.” 

“If that’s the case, then let’s try Earl Gray.”

Itaru nodded, ringing up the order. However, before Itaru could ask the man for payment, the man was already pushing a credit card into Itaru’s hand. 

“Wow, eager to pay aren’t we?” Itaru joked as he swiped the card. 

“It’s more like eager to make things more efficient.” The man responded with a small smile on his face. 

“Fair.” Itaru handed back the card as the man pocketed it swiftly.

“Alright, please wait while I make your drink.” Itaru was somehow the only employee right now because everyone else was busy. It was fine since it was during a slow period of time, but ugh. More work.

“Alright.” 

The cafe quieted down to just its usual jazz music as the low hissing of the water boiler joined it. Itaru rummaged through all the jars containing tea packets until he found the one marked Earl Gray. He silently thanked Tasuku, always the organized one, for labelling everything. Despite working here for 2 years already, Itaru still couldn’t differentiate his Green teas from his Assam teas from his Oolong teas from his Earl Grays. That’s not even to mention the specific types of tea like Tieguanyin and Jin Xuan or Gyokuro and Sencha. They were all just leaves to him. 

However, as Itaru was waiting for the tea to brew, he looked up to find the man staring at him. Smirking slightly, Itaru tossed his hair. Nice to know that hot people can recognize other hot people. The man didn’t falter, instead choosing to stare harder. 

The man cleared his throat. “Hey, may I get your name?”

Itaru cocked an eyebrow. “It’s Itaru Chigasaki.” 

“When do you work here Chigasaki?” 

Itaru internally reeled back. 

“Huh? Why are you asking?”

“I just want to know so that I can see you more often.”

“Wow, didn’t know you liked my service that much.” Itaru shot the man a flirtatious smirk. However, Itaru didn’t expect the guy to send a flirtatious smirk back. 

“Of course. Plus, you’re not bad to look at either.” Itaru hated how that made his heart skip a beat. 

“You’re not too bad yourself.” Itaru paused and wondered if the next thing he was about to say was professional. Then, he realized that flirting with the customer was already unprofessional, so screw it. 

“Say, if you know my name, then what’s yours? I have to recognize regulars y’know.” 

“My name’s Chikage Utsuki.”

A weird tension filled the cafe, causing Itaru to decide that the tea had been brewing for long enough, so he put a lid on the cup and put it in a cup sleeve.

“Well Chikage-san, I hope you have a nice rest of your day.” Itaru handed Chikage the cup, which Chikage took.

“Thank you, but I’m not leaving until you tell me when you work.”

Itaru shrugged. “Find out yourself. I’m sure if you come here enough, you’ll figure it out.” 

A strange glint showed up in Chikage’s eyes. “Alright. I’ll see you later Chigasaki.” 

“I look forward to seeing you again Chikage-san.”

Chikage sent Itaru one last smile before he left Itaru alone in the cafe with his own thoughts. Itaru’s brain was running a mile a minute, but the only coherent thing that came from Itaru’s mind was  _ What the fuck was that? _

Sadly, Chikage remained in Itaru’s mind for the next few days as the man kept showing up every day that Itaru happened to be working. At first, Itaru didn’t pay him any attention. After all, it could be a coincidence. However, when Itaru heard the bell ring and looked up to see Chikage coming in on the day that Itaru was covering a night shift for his coworker Juza, he knew something was up. 

Itaru narrowed his eyes, but he still flashed Chikage his usual princely smile.

“Hey there Chikage-san, nice to see you again. What would you like today?”

Chikage dipped his head in acknowledgement.    
  


“Hey Chigasaki, I’m in a coffee mood right now.”

Itaru slightly raised his eyebrows. “Huh, that’s rare. Do you want robusta or arabica?” Itaru was waiting for the usual “What’s the difference?”, but Chikage only hummed thoughtfully. 

“Well, I need a lot of energy for work later, so robusta.” 

“Alright.” Chikage handed Itaru his card, as Itaru rang him up. “You know a lot about coffee, huh Chikage-san?”

Chikage shrugged. “It’s common knowledge.”

Itaru couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Okay, whatever you say.” 

“Well, it’s not my fault that everyone else doesn’t have common knowledge.” 

Itaru bit back the response of  _ “It’s also not anyone else’s fault that you’re an asshole.”  _ but he only gave Chikage a pursed smile. The customer is always right.

Itaru turned around to start on the Chikage’s coffee order. He wondered what Chikage did that required him to work at night, however Itaru shrugged it off. It was common for businessmen to work overtime. However, there was one thing that he couldn’t shrug off. 

“Hey Chikage-san, how did you know my schedule?”

Chikage raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“Well, at first I thought it was a coincidence, but you literally never show up when I’m here. I asked my coworkers and they all said that they never see you when they’re working.”

Chikage shrugged. “I have my ways.” 

Itaru knew that in anime, that was code for I’m actually a really shady character that gets their information in illegal ways. However, if Itaru was being honest, he didn’t really care. It meant that Chikage liked him enough to do all of that. It was flattering, albeit pretty creepy.

“Well, okay. Glad to clear that out of my head at least. That’s been on my mind like the past 3 weeks since I’ve met you.” As soon as those words came out of Itaru’s mouth, he knew that it was a mistake. 

Chikage tilted his head, a smirk on his face. “Awww, you think about me that much? I’m honored.”

Itaru opened and closed his mouth. Fuck this guy. Well, not literally. Okay...Maybe, literally. 

“Don’t flatter yourself, I just wanted to know if you just came here a lot or if you just came here when I’m here.”

“Well, I did say that I wanted to see you more, didn’t I?” Two can play at this game. 

“If that’s the case, then why don’t you just ask me for a date or something?” 

Itaru smiled smugly at the sheer shock that briefly took over Chikage’s usually calm face. However, Chikage seemed to have Reflect active as his face quickly went back to normal. 

“Desperate much Chigasaki?” Chikage let out a low chuckle that sent chills down Itaru’s back. “Don’t worry, I’m working my way up there.” 

Oh.  _ Oh.  _ “Well, I’m looking forward to it then.” 

Silence once again took over the cafe as Itaru decided to focus on the coffee-making, which didn’t really require a lot of attention. However, he was sure that if he decided to focus on the elephant in the room, he would blush in public, which would totally cause his coolness stat to drop. 

  
Itaru heard scratching coming from where Chikage was, but he chose to ignore it. He did not see that hot guy who wants to go on a date with him. That guy did not exist. The world has progressed past the need for Chikage Utsuki.

However, the coffee finished brewing and Itaru sadly had to acknowledge Chikage again. “Your coffee’s done.” Itaru held out the cup to Chikage only to be greeted with Chikage holding out a slip of paper. 

“Uh, what’s this?” Itaru asked as they exchanged items. 

Chikage took a sip of his coffee. “Chigasaki, if you can’t read, then I don’t think I should go on a date with you.”

Itaru glared at Chikage before glancing down to see a neatly written note that said  _ “Hey Chigasaki, the next step before a date is giving each other our Lines right? Here’s mine.”  _ with a Line ID crawled below it. That bastard always wanted to have the last word huh? 

“Thanks Chikage-san, I’ll text you when I get on break.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later Chigasaki.” Chikage casually left the cafe as Itaru looked down at the sheet of paper one last time before tucking it in the pocket of his pants. 

Itaru did end up texting Chikage and it somehow spiralled into them texting every day. Whether it was Chikage sending Itaru something about spicy food, which he had an obsession with, or Itaru sending Chikage some memes. They texted about everything but their relationship, and that was fine with Itaru. 

Although, Chikage and Itaru did go on a few dates. They also kissed a bit… okay, maybe they kissed a lot. Okay, maybe they did more than kiss. Still though, that didn’t mean that they were dating.

Feelings? In this household? No way. 

Okay, they were dating, but they both didn’t want to say that because it scared them.

To add on to that, Chikage still came to the cafe every time that Itaru worked there and it made Itaru feel special. No longer was Itaru that bland dating sim protag. Now he was one of the interesting love interests that actually had a personality. He supposed that Chikage was on his route because… well, it should've been obvious. 

Either way, Itaru was glad that Chikage was on his route. He got attention AND a hot guy. What more did he want? Well, he wanted a new job, but baby steps.

It turned out that the new job thing wasn’t that far out of reach.

It was a normal day. The sun was high in the sky and a steady stream of people came in and out of the cafe. It had only been a few hours, but Itaru already wanted to get out. Sighing, he tapped his fingers against the counter. 

“Yo Itaroon, you doing okay?” Ah, Taichi. Itaru liked him well enough, he was a nice guy. He might not be the brightest bulb out there, Itaru’s tutoring sessions with him proved that, but there was no denying that he was really sweet and cool.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking about my rankings right now. I wonder how much I fell. As long as I’m above NEO, then nothing else really matters.” It was partially the truth, so Itaru didn’t feel too bad.

Taichi nodded wisely.

“I’m sure you’re fine. You’re a P2W warrior after all. No card is stronger than a credit card.”

Ouch. Itaru knew that it was the truth, but he could feel his credit card screaming at him.

“I guess… This job really isn’t the best for being a kakin warrior though.”

“Well, this is your first job, isn’t it? You’re hot and smart, I’m sure you’re gonna eventually find a better job.”

Itaru sighed. The job market out there was so saturated.

“Maybe, but I don’t know when that’ll happen, so I’ll just stay here for now.”

Almost as if Itaru summoned him, the door opened and in walked Chikage.

Taichi turned to look at Itaru with a mischievous smile.

“Chikage-san’s here.”

Itaru didn’t know how, but everyone working at the cafe knew about him and Chikage. He was pretty sure that most of their most regular customers also knew. God, was there some type of skill to stop nosy people from getting into his business? Itaru would rush to max it out so quickly.

Whatever, there was no skill like that in real life, so Itaru turned to face Chikage.

“Hey Chikage-san, we still up for tonight right?”

“Yeah.” Chikage handed Itaru his card as Itaru stopped to think awhile before deciding on something and placing the order. Itaru knew Chikage well enough to get his overall tastes for the day based on their texts. Itaru returned the card.

“K, sounds good. I get off at 6 so I’ll go home and change.”

“Wait, you took the train today right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll drive you home later, don’t worry about it.”

Taichi couldn’t help but gasp.

“You guys have been to each other’s houses?”

This was why Itaru wanted that skill.

“We have been in a relationship for a couple of weeks now. We just wanted it to be on the downlow.” Chikage turned to stare at Itaru with an unreadable expression.

“Ah shit, I owe Yuki money then.”

Wait. What?

“I’m sorry? You were betting on us?”

Taichi slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“Oops. Didn’t mean to let that spill.” Taichi chuckled sheepishly.

“I don’t see why my relationship to Chigasaki matters so much.”

“It matters because you two have been pining for like months. Muku said that it was like some shoujo manga. In fact, he said that he read a shoujo manga just like this.”

“Okay, to be fair, Muku probably has read a Shoujo manga for any type of relationship.” Itaru pointed out. 

“Yeah, but that’s not the point. The point is that you guys are finally together.”

Itaru was about to say something back, but Chikage held up a hand. Taichi and Itaru’s attention snapped to him as he grabbed Itaru’s hand and kissed it. 

What the fuck.

“What was that for Chikage-san?”

“A way to confirm that we are in a relationship.”

“Why do you need to confirm it?”

“We had never confirmed it before that statement you just made, so I had to do my part of the confirmation.”

“You know you don’t have to, right?”

“I know, I just wanted to one up you.”

Itaru rolled his eyes. 

“How unromantic.”

“How uncute of you to get the first move.”

“Seriously? Ugh, why am I dating you?”

“I don’t know, you were looking at me pretty hard when I first came in.”

“That was before I knew what you were like.”

“Oh really? That’s not what you said last night when I was-”

“Okay… listen. I would not like to hear your couple banter right now. Save it for the bedroom.” Itaru and Chikage turned to face Taichi, whose face was as red as his hair.

“Sorry Taichi.” Itaru sighed and started to work on Chikage’s drink. 

“Hey Chigasaki, it’s almost time for your break, isn’t it?”

Itaru paused his drink-making to look at the clock. Huh. So it is. Of course Chikage would know his schedule.

“Yeah.”

“Good, I have something to tell you during break.”

Well that wasn’t menacing at all.

“K. Can’t wait to hear it.”

When break actually came, Itaru couldn’t help but feel nervous. Chikage was going to break up with Itaru wasn’t he? The vibes that Itaru got were just pure breakup vibes. Itaru knew that they just admitted that they were dating, but he wouldn’t put it past Chikage to be faking it to keep up the usual facade he had.

Itaru hung up his apron and walked over to where Chikage was sitting. The man was casually sipping on his iced green tea as his attentive eyes darted up to meet Itaru’s.

“Hi.”

Itaru sat down next to Chikage, his hand automatically reaching for Chikage’s. Luckily, Chikage’s hand wasn’t too far away as Itaru slipped his hand into his boyfriend’s.

“What did you want to talk about?” Itaru tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice. It’s fine. Things were going to be fine.

“You’ve mentioned to me that you wanted a new job, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what if I told you that you had a job interview soon with my company.”

Itaru didn’t process the statement at first until it smashed into him like Mario smashed into a brick.

“Wait, what?”

Chikage paused, his eyebrows slightly creased.

“I should’ve asked, shouldn’t I?”

Itaru shook his head. “No, no. It’s fine. Oh my god, thank you.” 

Itaru threw his arms around Chikage, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “God, I have such an amazing boyfriend.”

“Weren't you just complaining about me?”

“Just take the goddamn compliment.”

“Fine.”

Itaru couldn’t believe it. He could finally get a job that could support his whaling ways. Oh yeah, he could also work with his boyfriend, which was nice. However, it’s all about the extra money for gacha. He couldn’t believe it.

“Seriously though, thank you. I thought I would be working here for a few more years.”

“You’re welcome.” Chikage chuckled, planting a kiss on Itaru’s forehead, his hand snaking around Itaru’s waist. “Who knows, maybe you and I will be working together soon.”

Itaru had to suppress a shudder at the thought that just hit him. “God, does that mean that I have to call you Senpai?” 

“Yep, I don’t mind though.”

Itaru rolled his eyes. “Of course you don’t but I do. I’ve been calling you Chikage-san ever since I met you. It’d be weird for me to just start calling you Senpai.”

“Well, you better start calling me it now to get used to it.”

“In your dreams Chikage-san.”

“My dreams have already come true with you here.”

“Oh shut up, you’re not that romantic. Where’d you find that line? Wikihow?”

“No, it’s some random pick-up line site.”

“Of course, I know you wouldn’t come up with anything as cheesy as that.”

“No, but I can come up with this.”

Chikage leaned in to kiss Itaru softly as Itaru kissed back.

Itaru supposed that maybe…Maybe, working at Mankai cafe was the best thing that happened to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I’m @gachakitakoreJK on twitter and I have ChikaIta brainworms


End file.
